Pieces of Place
The Hoffman brick as an urban artifact
The Hoffman brick as an urban artifact
Exhibition 26 Aug - 10 Sep 2017
Curated by Sarah Heyward
Artists: Kim Jaeger, Emma Grace, Andy Hutson, Kate Hill, Lindy McSwan and Sarah Heyward
The way we live in our urban environments is changing. As our neighbourhood landscapes grow taller and busier, the changing skyline provokes mixed feelings in our communities and suburbs. The unearthing of the clay, the soil and stone and the collapsing of the bricks and mortar leaves us wondering about the lives and stories which have occupied these sites: the land, the walls and ceilings, the factories and sheds. We wonder who made these bricks that built these walls?
The Brunswick Hoffman Brickworks was established in 1870 on the Albert Street clay pits. The works produced many of the bricks with clay from these pits; they were used in many buildings around inner Melbourne in the housing boom of that period. Using the Hoffman brick as a point of enquiry, six artists responded to this as a found urban artifact. The exhibiting artists all received one brick from a demolished garage in Brunswick to work with.